Sophie Dahl’s pea, pesto and rocket soup

This is quite a useful thing to have in the back of your head if people happen to show up uninvited. The soup is dead quick, yet delicious, and hopefully the uninvited will provide their own pudding, or at least have brought some chocolate.

HarperCollins

Serves:

4

Preparation time:

15 minutes

Cooking time:

15 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp
olive oil

1
small onion, peeled and finely chopped

2
small courgette, chopped

875 ml
chicken or vegetable stock

450 g
frozen peas

1
large handful of rocket

For the pesto:

1
large handful of fresh basil leaves

1
clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

A few tbsp of pine nuts

4 tbsp
olive oil

25 g
grated parmesan

Salt and pepper

Method

Place all of the pesto ingredients in a blender and whiz up until you have a green, bubbly sauce, adding a splash of water if the pesto is a little thick. Taste, season and adjust anything that needs adjusting.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and soften the onion. Add the courgettes, then pour in the stock and simmer on low for 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the peas and rocket, bring back to the boil and cook for another three of four minutes until tender.

Let the soup cool for 15 minutes or so and then, in careful batches, mix in a blender until you have a velvety purée. Reheat in a saucepan or serve cold, as it works either way.

You can either run four tablespoons of pesto through the soup when youre serving or reheating, if you are, or if serving cold, add it to the blender when you are puréeing the batches.